In what promises to be a one-of-a-kind evening, come hear Mozart that you already love, and Mozart that you have never heard before. Virtuoso pianist Robert Levin will perform several of Mozart’s timeless masterpieces. During the intermission, attendees become active participants in the performance. Armed with pencils and slips of paper, they are offered the opportunity to contribute by writing a theme in the style of Mozart. These themes will then be randomly selected by Levin, who will seamlessly incorporate them into a free fantasy during the second half of the concert. Contributors will be acknowledged by standing at the conclusion of the performance, highlighting their direct involvement in shaping the musical experience.
About Levin:
Pianist Robert Levin has been heard throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, and Asia, in recital, as soloist, and in chamber concerts. Levin is renowned for his restoration of the Classical period practice of improvised embellishments and cadenzas; his Mozart and Beethoven performances have been hailed for their active mastery of the Classical musical language. He has made recordings for DG Archiv, CRI, Decca/Oiseau-Lyre, Deutsche Grammophon, ECM, Klavierfestival Ruhr, New York Philomusica, Nonesuch, Philips, and SONY Classical. Among these are the complete Bach concertos with Helmuth Rilling as well as the English Suites and the Well-Tempered Clavier (on five keyboard instruments) for Hänssler’s 172-CD Edition Bachakademie.
Robert Levin studied piano with Louis Martin and composition with Stefan Wolpe in New York. He worked with Nadia Boulanger in Fontainebleau and Paris while still in high school, afterwards attending Harvard. Upon graduation he was invited by Rudolf Serkin to head the theory department of the Curtis Institute of Music, a post he left after five years to take up a professorship at the School of the Arts, SUNY Purchase, outside of New York City. In 1979 he was Resident Director of the Conservatoire américain in Fontainebleau, France, at the request of Nadia Boulanger, and taught there from 1979 to 1983. From 1986 to 1993 he was professor of piano at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. President of the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he was Dwight P. Robinson, Jr. Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University until his retirement.
This event is supported by the Leo M. Klein and Elaine Krown Klein Endowed Chair in Performance Studies.